Arash Usmanee had three goals heading into his bout Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal: He wanted to be sharp, he wanted to impress and he wanted to stop his opponent within the two round distance.
The Red Deer boxer did all three in spectacular fashion as he knocked Mexico’s Hugo Pacheco down three times forcing referee Marion Wright to call a halt to the bout at 1:28 of the second round.
“By the end of the first round and the end of the second round I was sharp, throwing combos and sidestepping,” said the former five-time Canadian Amateur Champion. “I think I achieved all of my goals. For my first fight in awhile, I was happy with it.”
The first round started with both fighters feeling each other out and trying to land combinations. Near the end of the first round Usmanee countered off of a Pacheco combination and landed a left hook that dropped the Mexican fighter to the canvas. Pacheco, however, was able to beat the count and survive the round.
“I was a little bit rusty because I haven’t had a fight for awhile,” said Usmanee who had not fought since January. “I was anxious to get at him instead of setting him up. I dropped him towards the end of the first round, and if I was a little bit sharper, I would have finished him off in that first round.”
In the second round Usmanee, 6-0, 3 KO’s was able to dictate the pace and action of the fight by controlling Pacheco, 11-16-1, 9 KO’s, with his jab. From there he was able to set up combinations and drop the Mexican boxer for the second time in the fight with a right at the end of a combination. The third knockdown followed soon after, again punctuated by a right hand at the end of a flurry.
“At the beginning of the second round I was relaxed more and I’m always better when I relax more,” said Usmanee. “I picked him with my jab, and then I dropped him again with a combo, hook to the body, hook to the head and then an uppercut. The third knockdown I knew he was hurt. I just threw combos. I just wanted to finish him up.”
For Usmanee there was extra motivation to stop Pacheco within the two round distance, as the Mexican fighter had extended Canadian Super Featherweight Champion Pier Olivier Cote to three rounds and second ranked lightweight Logan McGuinness to four rounds. Usmanee, who hopes to fight for a Canadian title by the end of the year, is ranked second as a super featherweight in Canada.
The Usmanee-Pacheco fight was on the undercard of the Jean Pascal-Chad Dawson WBC World Championship bout, won by Pascal in 11 rounds after an inadvertant headbutt to Dawson ended the match.